اسم

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See also: آسم, أسم, and أشم

Arabic

Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *šim-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *sim- (name). Leveled in Arabic to the roots و س م (w-s-m) and س م و (s-m-w).

Cognate with Hebrew שם (shém).

Pronunciation

Noun

اِسْم (ismm (plural أَسْمَاء (ʔasmāʔ) or أَسَامٍ (ʔasāmin))

  1. name
    مَا ٱسْمُكَ؟smuka?What is your name?
    بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِbismi allāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmiin the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
    بِسْمِ ٱلْآبِ وَٱلِٱبْنِ وَٱلرُّوحِ ٱلْقُدُسِbismi l-ʔābi wal-ibni war-rūḥi l-qudusiIn the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
  2. appellation
  3. reputation, prestige
  4. (grammar) noun (a category above, including pronouns and substantives like adjectives and participles, see the derived terms to get a picture of the usage)
Declension
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Cypriot Arabic: ism
  • Hijazi Arabic: اسم (isim)
  • Maltese: isem
  • Moroccan Arabic: اسم (ism)
  • Tunisian Arabic: اسم (ism)
  • Azerbaijani: ایسیم, isim (or via Persian)
  • Bashkir: исем (isem)
  • Kazakh: есім (esım)
  • Malay: اسم, isim
  • Classical Persian: اسم (ism) (see there for further descendants)
  • Swahili: isimu

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

Verb

اُسْمُ (usmu) (form I)

  1. second-person masculine singular active imperative of سَمَا (samā)

Further reading

  • Freytag, Georg (1833) “اسم”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 359–360
  • Carter, Michael George (2017) “The Seven Deadly Sins of Arabic Studies”, in Manuel Sartori, Manuela E. B. Giolfo, Philippe Cassuto, editors, Approaches to the History and Dialectology of Arabic in Honor of Pierre Larcher (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics; 88), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 519–521
  • Kasher, Almog (2009 October 1) “Term Ism in Medieval Arabic Grammatical Tradition: A Hyponym of Itself”, in Journal of Semitic Studies, Oxford Academix, retrieved 26 October 2018
  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “سم”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Azerbaijani

Noun

اسم (ism) (definite accusative اسمی, plural اسملر)

  1. Alternative spelling of ایسیم

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Pronunciation

Noun

اسم (isimm (construct state اِسْم (ism), plural أسماء (ʔasmāʔ))

  1. name

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Pronunciation

Noun

اسم (plural اسم-اسم or اسم۲, informal 1st possessive اسمکو, 2nd possessive اسممو, 3rd possessive اسمڽ)

  1. Jawi spelling of isim

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Noun

اسم (ism, isim) (plural اسملر)

  1. name
  2. (grammar) noun

Synonyms

Descendants

Persian

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading? ism
Dari reading? ism
Iranian reading? esm
Tajik reading? ism

Noun

Dari اسم
Iranian Persian
Tajik исм

اسم (esm) (plural اسم‌ها (esm-hâ) or اسامی (asâmi) or اَسْماء (asmâ(')))

  1. (Iran, informal, elsewhere uncommon) name
    Synonym: نام (nâm)
  2. appellation
    Synonym: نامیده (nâmide)
  3. (grammar) noun
    Hyponym: اسم خاص

Usage notes

  • (name): In Iran نام is more common in formal speech but اسم is more common in informal speech. However, in Dari and Tajik, اسم is not commonly used to refer to names at any level of formality.

Descendants

South Levantine Arabic

Root
و س م
1 term

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Pronunciation

Noun

اسم (ʔism, ʔusmm (plural أسامي (ʔasāmi))

  1. name
    اسم العيلةʔism il-ʕēlesurname, family name
    (file)
    اسم الشخصʔism iš-šaḵṣfirst name
    (file)
    شو اسمك؟šu ʔismak?What's your name?
    شو الاسم الكريم؟šu l-ʔism il-karīm?What's your noble name?
  2. noun

Tunisian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم (ism).

Noun

اسم (ʔismm

  1. name
    شسمك ؟
    šismik
    What's your name?
  2. noun
  3. title
    ما ختارش اسم باهي لكتابه
    mā ḵtāriš ʔism bāhi liktābu
    He didn't choose a good title for his book
  4. first name

Urdu

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Classical Persian اسم (ism), from Arabic اِسْم (ism), from Proto-Semitic *šim-.

Pronunciation

Noun

اِسْم (ismm (Hindi spelling इस्म)

  1. name, appellation, designation
  2. (grammar) noun, substantive
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit असम (asama).

Pronunciation

Adjective

اَسَم (asam) (Hindi spelling असम)

  1. unequal
  2. uneven
  3. dissimilar
  4. unusual

Further reading

  • Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “اسم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.